Abstract

An almost complete tarsometatarsus from the middle Eocene locality of Silica South, Sperrgebiet, Namibia, is attributed to the order Galliformes. This is the earliest record of the order in Africa. It belongs to a stem group galliform and differs from the Recent families. It is compared with Mesozoic birds from America, and Gallinuloididae, Quercymegapodiidae and Paraortygidae from Europe and the Americas. Because the specimen is an isolated bone, damaged proximally, we do not attribute it to a family, but it is clear that it represents a new genus and species of galliform bird, which we name Namaortyx sperrgebietensis.

Hwang SH, Mayr G, Bolortsetseg M (2010) The earliest record of a galliform bird in Asia, from the late Paleocene-early Eocene of the Gobi Desert, Mongolia. J Vertebr Paleontol 30:1642–1644CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Mayr G (2006) New specimens of the early Eocene stem group galliform Paraortygoides (Gallinuloididae), with comments on the evolution of a crop in the stem lineage of Galliformes. J Ornithol 147:31–37CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Weidig I (2010) New Birds from the Lower Eocene Green River Formation, North America. In: Boles WE, Worthy TH (eds) Proceedings of the VII international meeting of the Society of Avian Paleontology and Evolution. Rec Aust Mus 62:29–44